One Small Change
by I Am The One and Only HalfPint
Summary: What changes when one little thing happens differently? Harry gets his Hogwarts letter from someone completly different
1. Chapter 1

Harry looked at the green light numbers on his cousin's watch. It read five minutes till midnight and the day of Harry's eleventh birthday. Harry looked at his cousin's watch counting down the minutes to his birthday with mixed feelings. It had been a strange few days that was sure what with these strange letters he had been receiving but had not yet managed to obtain, open, and then read. He wasn't sure why he had an eager sensation in the pit of his stomach, it wasn't as if he was going to get anything, the Dursleys would probably act as if it was simply another day. That pessimistic thought was, as would be obvious to a normal person, depressing. However Harry couldn't place why it was depressing, as it wasn't any different from any previous birthday.

Harry heard a popping sound that pulled him out of his mental revere. He hoped it wasn't the wood giving warning that it was going to give out. Harry looked at his cousin's watch, three minutes left now. Harry heard a faint cough, he thought it came from outside but he had to be mistaken. It was definitely his uncle he thought but wasn't very convinced by his own attempt at fooling himself.

Dudley's watch read one minute till midnight now. Harry began wondering if they would be staying here much longer. He couldn't see that happening as his aunt nearly had a conniption fit when she saw the place.

Harry watched as the numbers counted down to midnight. As soon as it hit midnight Harry whispered, "Happy Birthday to me" and at that same moment a light knock was heard on the door. Harry started at the door thinking he was hearing things. He stood up slowly wondering who could possibly be there at that time of night. Harry jumped at the next sound, which was a rapping upon the door. The sound of the knocking was louder this time and somehow purveyed a sound of annoyance the way only knocking can. Not wanting to keep the unknown visitor waiting any longer than was necessary Harry opened the door.

Harry's eyes widened as nothing could have prepared him for what met his eyes. A tall man with a narrow scowling face was standing at the door. The man looked to Harry exactly what he would imagine a vampire to look like. He had sallow, sunk in skin characteristic of those who rarely see the suns rays. He stood with a sort of air that made you not dare to show disrespect and Harry stood up a little straighter and swallowed as if the slightest imperfection would bring down this strange man's wrath. He had an aristocratic nose and midnight black hair that was curtaining slightly over equally black eyes. He spoke in a voice that spoke nothing of kindness, "Well potter are you going to stand their gapping at me or are you going to allow me in." Harry hurriedly complied and allowed this strange man passage into the shack.

Harry struggled to find his voice but when he did he asked, "Excuse me but how do you know my name?" In response the man handed him an envelope, it was another of the letters. Harry was elated, finally he had got a hold of one and Uncle Vernon was fast asleep and couldn't take it from him. "Does this mean-" Harry began but was interrupted.

"Yes, yes you are going to Hogwarts." The man said impatiently.

Harry was confused and allowed it to show on his face and in his voice. "I was going to ask if you were the one sending me all these letters, and what is Hogwarts I have never heard of it."

It was the strange man's turn for confusion to shine on his features but he hid it quickly and Harry didn't notice. "What do you mean _What is Hogwarts_"? He sneered, " Thought your parents were just born with the knowledge do you humph they had to learn it too just as everyone else does."

Harry was becoming increasingly annoyed with this man, "Learned what? And just who are you."

The man was also quite obviously becoming annoyed and their voices by now had risen considerably though neither Harry nor the dark man had noticed. "Feigning ignorance are you. Very well then I am Severus Snape, Potions Master at Hogwarts School of-"

By this point Harry's Uncle Vernon had walked into the room and shouted, "No! I will have none of this rubbish under my roof!" This sufficiently interrupted Snape. This awoke Dudley, with a grunt, who was looking quite confused and Harry's Aunt Petunia walked in and after seeing Snape her eyes widened in shock.

Unfortunately for Harry's uncle, Snape did not like to be interrupted. Snape glared an icy glare that made Harry shiver; he was glad that Snape wasn't looking at him with that look. Snape spat, "Shut up you stupid muggle if you had sent a response to the letters I wouldn't be here now would I." Vernon turned red in anger until he noticed something in Snape's hand that Harry couldn't see; at that point he turned quite pale. Snape then continued, "As I was saying until that muggle so rudely interrupted me, I am Severus Snape, Potions Master at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

Harry wondered if that was supposed to mean something to him. "But… everyone knows magic isn't real its just smoke and mirrors and…" Harry trailed off at the look Snape was giving him. It was the sort of look that makes you feel that the person looking at you is seeing everything you ever did or thought lay bare with perfect accuracy, and Harry didn't like it at all. It made him feel very exposed and vulnerable.

Snape suddenly turned on Harry's aunt and said quite smoothly, "What would Lilly say if she knew you were keeping such a secret from her only child." Petunia shivered and Harry wondered what was going on. Harry found some consolation in the fact that Dudley looked even more confused than him as he didn't know where Snape came from. Snape was circling around Harry's aunt and uncle, "Tsk tsk tsk, he doesn't know anything. While I may not disagree with you description of the boys father on many levels you were supposed to tell him about us." Harry would have protested against the statement that he didn't know anything but somehow it didn't seem like such a good idea. Snape suddenly stopped terrorizing Harry's aunt and uncle and walked toward the door. "If you desire to know the truth about your parents, Hogwarts, and magic come with me if not stay here with the rest of them." As he said this Snape walked out the door. Harry looked at the spot where Snape had been standing and then back at the Dursleys. They were standing looking angered his uncle muttering the word freak. Harry didn't know what this man could tell him and offer to his life but he knew it couldn't be much worse than the Dursleys. With that thought to give him strength he walked out of the shacks door after Snape.


	2. Chapter 2

When Harry walked out of the shack he saw Snape standing next to the rowboat he and the Dursleys had used to get to the shack. Snape nodded and stepped into the boat and Harry did the same. Snape broke the silence by saying, "So I take it to mean you wish to know the truth about your parents, Hogwarts, and magic?" Harry nodded and Snape asked, "So which first?"

Harry pondered on his choices and looked, Snape thought, very much like he imagined himself to look when contemplating which potion to use rare ingredients in. Harry finally decided and said, "Magic, I would like to know about that first." He then became silent as he awaited his answer.

He did not have long to wait as Snape pulled out a stick and said, "Magic, is very real." With this he taped the side of his boat with his stick and it began to move of its own accord. Harry naturally gasped but Snape ignored it and continued in the board manner usually held by people patently explaining to a four year old that the cat does not like to have finger paint on it. "This," he said holding his stick, "is a wand and it is used to direct magic. They only however direct magic they hold no magic of their own a muggle or a squib wouldn't be able to make the slightest spark using it. A muggle," Snape said before Harry could ask, "Is a person born without magic. A squib is a muggle born to wizard parents." Harry nodded. "Of course this is just a general overview there is much more to learn but that would take much more time than we have."

Harry again nodded digesting this new information, "How about Hogwarts?"

Snape smiled, it seemed he approved of the order Harry had chosen for explanation. "Hogwarts is a school of magic, your parents both attended as did I. It is considered to be one of the best magical schools in Europe and is highly esteemed." Harry smiled at the mention of his parents. He looked down at the still sealed envelope of his letter and then at Snape who nodded at him to open it. So he did and it read:

Hogwarts School 

_Of Witchcraft and Wizardry_

_Headmaster Albus Dumbledore_

_Dear Mr. Potter,_

_We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment._

_Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31._

_Yours sincerely,_

_Minerva McGonagall,_

_Deputy Headmistress_

Harry read the letter, his head spinning slightly. Yeah he had heard Snape say it but the letter made it strangely real. Harry laughed and at Snape's slightly confused look explained, "Its just funny to know that the letter Uncle Vernon was trying so hard to keep from me and I wanted so dearly to get my hands on was simply an acceptance letter." Snape inclined his head slightly and though it didn't show anywhere on his features Harry knew that Snape found it amusing as well.

Harry took a deep breath and just as he was about to speak the boat bumped up against a peer. Snape stood and so did Harry. When they stepped onto solid ground Snape said." Potter this is a lot of information if you wish we can postpone the truth of your parents until after you have had some sleep."

Harry shook his head, "No I need to know… What is the truth about my parents."

Snape looked down at Harry, " I think we should wait to have this conversation until we get to my house." Harry looked at him and Snape answered his unasked question, "Yes, it is that shocking." Harry yet again nodded to show that he understood what had been said and had no objections or questions.

They walked in silence until they got to a clump of bushes. When they got there Snape said, "Grab my arm." He said this in a tone that brooked no room for question or argument so Harry did just that. An instant later Harry felt the most unpleasant of sensations. It was like being pulled into a space far to small for any doll much less a human.

When the terrible sensation passed and Harry was able to move again he noticed they were in a very different location than they were before. The streets were littered with garbage and debris. The sidewalks were in disrepair and many of the houses had boarded up windows. Harry spotted a sign that was falling off its post, which read "Spinners End". Harry began to ask, "What-" however Snape interrupted him as he had been doing since Harry had tried to ask his very first question. "That was just Apparition it is a magical means of moving quickly from one location to another, and as for where we are it is the street that my house is on." Noticing that Harry was noticing the state of the houses around them he added, "I only stay here during the summer holidays the rest of the year I am at Hogwarts so I don't have much use of an expensive house." The sense in this was obviously understood by Harry as he said ah and stopped looking at the dilapidated house next to them as if a mugger was about to jump out of it.

When they arrived at Snape's house Harry thought it looked just like all the other houses down the road but somehow he felt he could tell beforehand which one was Snape's. Though Harry quickly dismissed these thoughts as his imagination. As they stepped inside it was quite clear to Harry that Snape was neither lying about not living here much nor did he entertain guests frequently if at all. The half of the living room immediately after the door seemed fairly unused and not very well maintained as the couch was patched in places and the coffee table had cracks in the legs. The other half was a single armchair next to the fireplace and many, many bookshelves all crammed full of books. After Harry had taken in the state of the living room Snape began walking down a hall on the side of the living room that was in disrepair. He pointed, when Harry caught up with him, through a doorway that didn't have a door and said, "Kitchen," and he then continued walking down the hall. At the next door they got to Snape opened it and said bathroom. Harry poked his head in and came out coughing. It smelled heavily of mildew and fungus. Snape put his head in to see what the problem was and pulled it out quickly with an unpleasant look on his face. He brought out his wand and wordlessly flicked it. Harry then walked into the bathroom, which was now blissfully mildew free, and looked around. It had a sink, mirror, toilet, and a shower with not much room for anything else. It was becoming even more obvious that Snape lived completely alone. When Harry came back out Snape continued on down the hall. When they came upon the next door Snape opened it first and wordlessly flicked his wand. After doing this he said, "This is where you will be sleeping tonight. I will alert you when it is time for breakfast." With that he hastily retreated away.

Harry however wasn't going to let that happen. He walked out of the room and said, "The truth about my parents, you haven't told me yet." Snape turned back and looked at Harry again in that strange way, that odd way which made Harry feel as if his whole life was on display. Before he could stop himself he yelled, "Will you stop that!"

Snape looked at him for a second and said, "Stop what exactly?"

"That… that thing you do when you are looking at me. Its creepy." As Harry said this he began to feel really foolish. Snape wasn't doing anything except look at him… right?

Wrong. Snape smiled, "That 'thing' as you so aptly put it is called legilimency. It allows me to see into your mind, if it weren't for my earlier examination of your thoughts I would have thought quite different of you and the way you were brought up. I, like nearly every other person in our world, believed that you were brought up knowing as much about you and your story as we did. However popular belief is quite wrong."

Harry stood there as if stricken. He was reading my thoughts. He… wait a minute, "What story and what do you mean every other person in our world?"

Snape smirked slightly, "Follow me and I will tell you everything." So Harry did. They walked over to the better portion of the living room and Snape flicked his wand, a duplicate of the chair appeared next to the original. Harry sat on the duplicate. Whatever Snape had to say it must be huge. Snape sat on the original chair took a deep breath and began. "Your parents were killed by a dark wizard whose name we do not say he is referred to as either The Dark Lord or You-Know-Who. He and his followers were killing all who stood against him. He killed your father first, then your mother and then attempted to kill you. However something went wrong and his spell backfired killing him and leaving you with just a scar."

Harry gasped, tears pricking the sides of his eyes, "So that means that they were murdered, they didn't die in a car crash." Harry wasn't sure which story he wanted to believe the one where an evil wizard mercilessly killed them or the one the Dursleys told him that portrayed them as being penniless drunks.

"Correct Mr. Potter. You are the first person to ever survive the killing curse and for that you are famous." By this time Harry was shaking violently he couldn't believe it… it wasn't true. He was just Harry a mediocre child who always messed things up with his freakishness. Harry looked down as he felt something pressing into his hands. It was a cup of hot tea. He took it gratefully and began to drink it shakily. His mind was racing he couldn't be famous especially not for something so stupid.

Harry muttered, "That's a stupid thing to be famous for, I can't even remember it happening." Snape looked slightly uncomfortable, this wasn't the reaction he expected. Harry getting a small bit of optimism asked, "So if the Dursleys lied to me about my parents deaths does that mean they were lying to me when they said that they were penniless drunks?" Harry had a look in his eyes that made it quite clear that he thought this was almost too much to hope for.

"They were far from penniless Mr. Potter as are you and now I think it is time for you to go to bed, we have quite a bit to do tomorrow." Harry nodded and walked slowly back down the hall trying to process all this new information. He fell asleep the second his head hit the pillow.


	3. Chapter 3

Harry awoke the next morning to a sharp rapping upon the door. He quickly mumbled, "M'Coming," and stumbled out of the bed. When he stood up and saw the unfamiliar room the previous nights events came flooding into his brain. Harry looked around seeing the room almost for the first time, as he hadn't examined it the night before. The bed was a shabby double covered by a timeworn quilt. To anyone else it would have seemed horrible but to Harry it was amazing. His bed at the Dursleys had been a cot when he was in the cupboard and it had been a twin bed Dudley broke by jumping on it.

The smell of freshly cooked pancakes with copious amounts of syrup slowly met Harry's nose and he was reminded of how hungry he was. He quickly ran his fingers through his hair in an attempt to look cleaner and walked into the kitchen. When he walked in he saw Snape sitting at a worn wooden table eating a plate of steaming pancakes covered in copious amounts of butter and syrup. To Harry's great delight a plate of equally steaming pancakes was sitting across the table. Harry sat down and while he was putting butter on his pancakes he asked attempting to sound casual but instead sounding hopeful, "So… it wasn't a dream then was it?" He began pouring syrup on his pancakes; he too preferred to drown his pancakes in syrup.

Snape finished chewing the bite he had just taken and said, "No Mr. Potter it was not if it was I don't think I would appreciate a strange boy being in my house eating my food." Harry laughed so hard he choked on the bite of food he had just unceremoniously shoved into his mouth. "Yes well don't kill yourself eating. When you are done take a shower and then we will head to London to buy your supplies. There is a list of everything you need in the envelope along with your acceptance letter." Harry pulled out the envelope from his pants pocket and took out a sheet of paper he hadn't seen before. It read:

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry 

_Uniform_

_Three sets of plain work robes (black)_

_One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear_

_One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)_

_One winter cloak (black, silver fastenings)_

Please note that all pupils' cloths should carry name tags 

_Course Books_

_All students should have a copy of the following:_

_The Standard Book of spells (Grade 1) By Miranda Goshawk_

_A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot_

_Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling_

_A Beginners' Guide to Transfiguration by Emeric Switch_

_One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore_

_Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger_

_Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by newt Scamander_

_The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection by Quentin Trimble_

_Other Equipment_

_1 wand_

_1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)_

_1set glass or crystal phials_

_1 telescope_

_1 set brass scales_

_Students may also bring an owl OR a cat OR a toad_

Harry simply stared at the list. Where on earth were they supposed to find all of these things? Harry looked up at Snape. He didn't seem worried so, Harry decided, so neither will I. _After all_ Harry thought _he took me away from the Dursleys and is showing me all these wonderful things I should trust him._ Snape who had sat down and began to read the morning paper had no idea about the thoughts going through young Harry's mind.

Harry quickly finished eating and showering. He was quite eager to begin getting his school things. He near ran into the living room where Snape was reading a huge book in his excitement to get his things.

What Harry didn't know was that while he was showering Snape was deep in thought. The things he had seen in Harry's mind were terrible. He had been treated horribly his whole life and was at his most moldable at this very moment. He knew nothing of the wizarding world other than the few things Snape had told him. Snape was for once in his life at a loss for what to do. He could simply leave the child of his most hated enemy to his own devices, to discover the wonders of this world on his own. If he did that Snape would be able to hate him and treat him just the way he had planned. On the other hand the things Snape had seen in Harry's mind reminded him so much of his own childhood. Snape, at a loss for what to do did what he always did at these times; he put the ball in the other player's court. He decided to allow Harry to choose through his actions. If Harry sought out his guidance he would give it, however if as soon as school began he snuffed out their correspondence Snape was determined to treat him with an unlimited amount of venom.

He had barely made this decision when Harry came bounding into the room. He looked up from his book that he had only been half reading and asked, "I take this to mean that you are ready?" Harry nodded exuberantly.

Snape started walking down the hall and into the kitchen. Harry followed him out into the backyard. He decided this would be as good a time as any to ask, "Sir, where are we going to be getting these things?" He said this pointing to the supplies list.

Snape smirked his knowing smirk, "London." Harry was slightly confused but he remembered his personal promise to trust Snape and simply nodded. Snape held out his arm for Harry to grab and Harry felt that terrible sensation of Apparition once again.

As Harry was patting down his body to make sure he didn't leave anything behind he regained his hearing just as he got to his ears and almost at once he wished he didn't. They were behind a dumpster in a dirty alleyway off a very busy London street. It was a stark contrast with the oppressive silence of Spinner's End. When they walked out of the alley the noise was even louder and Harry was having a hard time keeping up with Snape, as one of his long strides was three of Harry's small steps. After a short while Snape stopped and pointed, "That is the Leaky Cauldron it is our destination." At first Harry couldn't tell where he was pointing but after a short moment it became obvious. It was a shabby building that seemed to meld in with all the other buildings. They walked toward it and just as they were about to enter Snape turned toward Harry, "Be prepared," he said neither kindly or unkindly, "every person in that bar has heard your name and will recognize you by your scar, if you wish to not be known then try to cover it somehow." Harry gulped and quickly pressed his bangs over his forehead, not wanting to have his first moment in this wonderful world also be his first moment dealing with fame. He figured if muggle paparazzi can be bad how terrible can magical he shuddered at this thought and pressed his bangs more firmly over his scar. Snape smirked as he walked into the bar, Harry in toe.

Harry had to stifle a gasp when he walked in; it was full to the brim with strange looking individuals. A nice old man with a toothless grin and a hairless head was chatting animatedly with all the people at the bar. A woman who didn't look quite human was drinking something that didn't look exactly edible. The kindly barman waved at Snape and said, "Why hello there Severus showing around a new Hogwarts student then?" He smiled warmly at Harry.

"Why yes Tom I am so we haven't time to stay and chat." He nodded politely to all who looked in his direction and continued walking through the crowd.

Harry followed quickly and quietly when Tom whispered to him, "Don't let him get to you one bit. He may be a bit of a grouch at first but he's just putting up a front or else he wouldn't be taking lil'uns such as yourself around." With that he winked at Harry and went back to cleaning glasses as he chatted with bar patrons.

Snape continued out the door as Tom talked to Harry and soon Harry was out back with him. When Harry joined him Snape said, "Now watch carefully as this is how you are going to get in each time." Snape pulled out his wand and tapped a brick three times. The brick Snape tapped started to move then the bricks surrounding it began to move, then the bricks those bricks were touching, so on and so forth the bricks had moved enough to form a giant arch big enough for a bus with the words Diagon Alley spelled out at the top in crooked letters.

When they walked in Harry was awestruck, first the wall rearranging itself and now this. It was a bustling lane full of vendors selling their wares, people buying them and families chatting with each other. Harry was trying to look every direction, listen to every conversation, stay inconspicuous, and still keep up with Snape. It was proving to be a difficult task. Harry's eyes however were glued to a marvelous white building when he first saw it. It was at the very end of the Alley and gleamed with sunlight. Harry couldn't help but ask, "What is that place?"

"That place is Gringotts. It is the wizards bank and our first stop." Harry nodded completely awestruck by the structures beauty. "Oh and mind you don't stare," Snape added, "at the employees of Gringotts, it's run completely by goblins and they are quite proud." Harry gulped and continued to look with awe at the marvelous structure. When they got closer Harry's awe simply increased. He knew he shouldn't stare but it was… well even the word beautiful couldn't describe it. It seemed to be cut from a single stone of amazing beauty and strength. At a gentle nudge in the side by Snape's elbow as they approached the door Harry reigned in his awe. He gulped when he saw the goblin guarding the door that bowed them in. It had very long fingers, which Harry could tell were quite strong and would have no trouble wrapping around his neck. Snape walked briskly up to an empty counter and before the goblin could say anything pulled out a small key and stated, "Mr. Potter would like to make a withdrawal."

The goblin, who seemed pleased with Snape's no-nonsense attitude, snapped his fingers. A smaller goblin appeared and Harry somehow got the distinct impression that this goblin was female. How he got this impression he could not tell as all the goblin's bodies looked identical to Harry. The goblin at the counter spoke, "This is Gringshpida she will attend to you and your business."

The small goblin known as Gringshpida beckoned them onward saying, "This way sirs!" in a way that seemed to be about as bubbly any cheerful as goblins get. She led them off toward a door and held it open for them to enter.

The passage that the door led into reminded Harry of a mix between a mineshaft and a dungeon. Gringshpida whistled and summoned what looked like a mine cart. Harry got into it after seeing Snape do so. Even though Harry had seen it rocketing down the tracks to get to them Harry wasn't prepared for this. Harry's eyes popped open when they took off at amazingly high speeds. He could barely contain a whoop of enjoyment as the cart rocketed down the shafts making hairpin turns and going ever deeper into the ground. It was exactly the way Harry would imagine a roller coaster to be. When the cart stopped Harry was still smiling like a mad man and could barely contain a giggle of enjoyment. He was so immersed in the adrenalin-influenced afterglow that he didn't even notice the vault door open. When he did finally turn and look his jaw dropped. There were piles of gold and silver, and heaps of bronze. Harry stood frozen staring at it. Snape gave him a slight push and said, "Go on we haven't all day to stare at your trust fund." Harry walked in towards it holding a bag the goblin had given him. He had to resist an urge to dive in and roll around on all the gold. When Harry just stood there staring at the contents Snape said, "The little bronze ones are Knuts, twenty-nine of those make one of the silver ones which are called Sickles. Seventeen Sickles make up one Galleon, which is what those big gold ones are. Harry nodded dumbstruck and grabbed a couple handfuls from each pile. When he looked over at Snape he nodded silently signaling to Harry that he had gotten enough.

Harry started walking back but then hit by sudden inspiration grabbed five extra Galleons. Then he asked, " Gringshpida, does Gringotts do money exchanges?"

"Yes sir," she replied, "both from muggle money to ours and from ours back to muggle money. For a small fee of course."

At Snape's look Harry replied, "Well it wouldn't hurt to have a bit of money for myself in the muggle world, might come in handy ya know." Snape nodded realizing that Harry obviously had no idea how much money he was carrying. When they reached ground level again Harry walked over to and empty counter and placed five Galleons on the counter and said, "I would like to exchange these for muggle pounds, please." The goblin looked at the coins on the counter took them, counted out some bills and coins and handed them to Harry. Harry in turn counted the money. After he counted them his eyes went wide. "There must be some mistake I think you might have given me to much."

He handed the bills back to the goblin who recounted them and to Harry's surprise said, "Yes there is a mistake but I did not overpay you I underpaid you. I gave you a one-pound coin when I meant to hand you a two-pound coin." Harry nearly passed out and asked what the exchange rate between Galleons and pounds was. The goblin replied quite calmly "One Galleon equals five muggle pounds." Harry nearly fell over thinking of how much money he had. He quickly thanked the goblin and walked out his eyes wide and a chuckling Snape following behind him.

When they got outside Harry was stammering at Snape who was obviously enjoying Harry's shock. He stopped laughing and calmly said, "Shall we purchase your school things now?" Harry simply nodded his eyes still quite wide as he felt the weight of his money pouch in his pocket. He realized that he had more money in his pocket that Dudley had ever had in his life. "Okay then,' continued Snape, quite indifferent to Harry's shock, "we should start at the top of the list and work our way down to keep from missing anything."

With that he led Harry over to a shop called Madam Malkin's. At the door he motioned for Harry to go in alone saying he had some personal business he needed to attend to and could do so while Harry was getting fit for his robes. When Harry walked in feeling quite small and exposed he seriously hoped no one would recognize him. Before Harry could say a word a nice witch behind the counter asked him if he was coming for his Hogwarts robes. Harry nodded a yes and she said, "This way, dear, we have a nice family back here getting new robes for their son."

When he walked into the back He saw what she was talking about. It was a huge family of redheads. A tall boy was having new robes fit onto him and he was looking very pleased with himself. A pair of twins who were looking out the window suddenly turned on Harry. "We saw who you came with," started one twin. The other continued, " Yeah tough luck on your part to get stuck with Snarkey Snape." The one who spoke first elbowed the other, "Hey Fred, what house do you think he will get put in?" The one called Fred answered, "Hmm I dono George, if he is here with Snape he must be a muggleborn which means he cant get put in Slytheryn." Harry was about to say that he wasn't muggleborn but George continued before he had that chance, "Well he seems far to quiet for Gryffindor so probably Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff." Harry couldn't make neither head nor tail of this whole conversation so he simply kept his mouth shut. He understood about half of it and he really didn't think they were quite fair to Snape. Yeah he did have a bit of a biting personality but it wasn't really all that bad. Luckily though the lady doing the tall boy's robes finished so the family left. Not long after that the young woman attending to his robes finished.

After he finished making his purchases Harry didn't have long to wait for Snape to come back after finishing his business. When he got there Harry decided to brave asking a question, "Sir what are The Houses? Two boys in Madam Malkin's were-"

"There are four houses," Snape interrupted, " Slytheryn, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff. Gryffindor is full of morons who don't think anything through more than what the immediate results will be, that is if they think at all. Ravenclaw is full of intellectuals who would rather sit around discussing a situation, the pros, cons and so forth, than actually getting up and doing anything. Hufflepuffs are the type of people who are loyal to a fault; they will do anything for a friend without caring a wit about themselves. Lastly there is Slytheryn, my house. Slytheryns do whatever is in their best interest or whatever will help them in the long run. They are the perfect mix of a chess player and a politician thinking five steps ahead of the game while being perfectly willing to break a connection the second it seems to no longer be profitable."

Harry nodded. He didn't think he really fit into any of the houses. He didn't want to be known for rushing into things headfirst. Though he hated to admit it is exactly what he did by going with Snape when he had very little information. Hufflepuff sounded awfully like the way Dudley's friends acted, doing exactly what Dudley said without a moments thought. He also didn't much care for sitting around discussing without doing anything. Slytheryn sounded like a group of people who caused wheels to turn within wheels, which while Harry didn't exactly like, was fairly good at spotting considering the amount of time he had saw Dudley manipulating his Aunt, Uncle, and everyone else around him.

They had been walking through Harry's contemplation of the houses and had just arrived at a bookstore. It was called Flourish and Blott's and when they walked in Snape walked away, obviously having his own books to buy. Harry was quickly grabbing all the books on his list. He was grabbing the last book on the list, which he had to go on tiptoe to grab when he heard his gold jingle. Harry looked around and realized just how little he knew about the world he had landed in. He thought about how ignorant he felt when those twins were talking. He also thought about the fact that he had money to burn. So he did what he had always wanted to do, he splurged. Of course years of living with the Dursleys having little to no spending money made him more than a little frugal. So he bought three books that had caught his eye when he was scanning the shop for his schoolbooks. He bought _Once a Muggle, Now a Wizard: a muggleborn's guide to the wizarding world_ by Arjouh Kiddin. He picked up _101 Easy Charms to Make your Life Easier _by Pazy Lants without a second glance. The second he saw it he knew he had to buy _Curses and Counter-curses (Bewitch Your Friends and Befuddle Your Enemies with the Latest Revenges: Hair Loss, Jelly-Legs, Tongue-Tying and Much, Much, More)_ by Professor Vindictus Viridian.

As they left the store Snape looked at Harry's purchases and nodded his approval at Harry's extra books. Harry didn't know that the Kiddin book Snape himself owned a copy of to give to muggleborn students who got sorted into his house and didn't want to be harassed for ignorance. What the two twins who were talking at Harry in Madam Malikin's didn't know was that quite a few muggleborns are placed into Slytheryn as they have quite a lot of desire to prove that they are just as good as any other witch or wizard and the power system in Slytheryn house was quite similar to the way popularity worked in muggle schools so they had very little difficulty falling right into place.

Next on the list was a wand. This prospect seriously excited Harry as it was what he had wanted ever since Snape had shown him his on the boat. The shop, Harry saw, that they were headed to was called Olivander's. It was a small dusty shop. When they walked in Harry felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up as he looked around uncomfortably. He was looking in the direction of Snape when he suddenly heard, "Mr. Potter. I thought I would be seeing you soon." Harry jumped out of his skin at the sound of the voice. He even saw Snape look slightly startled though Snape composed himself so quickly that if he hadn't been looking in his direction Harry wouldn't have seen it. "Severus Snape how nice it is to see you." Harry barely suppressed a chuckle, as it was obvious that Snape did not return the sentiment. Harry honestly couldn't blame him Mr. Olivander was creepy, especially his eyes. "Twelve inches, redwood, and a dragon heartstring quite ridged if I remember correctly." He said this as if there wasn't any chance that he was mistaken. "Do you take care of it properly?" Snape simply nodded in response. After Snape nodded Mr. Olivander suddenly turned his attention to Harry. "Oh how much you resemble your father. I remember quite well selling him his wand, eleven inches, pliable, mahogany wood excellent for transfiguration." Mr. Olivander moved closer to Harry and he began to regret his mirth as Snape was quite obviously enjoying Harry's discomfort. Mr. Olivander was now looking strait into Harry's eyes, "Even though you look much like your father you have your mother's beautiful green eyes. I also had the privilege to sell Lilly her very first wand. A willow wand favored her; ten and a quarter inch long, quite swishy and very nice for charms work." After this he moved even closer still, Harry had to refrain from taking a step back. "I am sorry to say I sold the wand which did that," as he said the word that Mr. Olivander placed a spindly finger on Harry's scar. Snape immediately stopped laughing and leaned in almost imperceptibly with barely noticeable interest. "A very powerful wand especially in the wrong hands. Yew thirteen and a half inches… If only I had known what it was going out into the world to do…" Mr. Olivander sharply stood up. "Well hold out your wand arm." Harry held out his right arm and a long tape measure began to measure all over him. While he was doing that Mr. Olivander was in the back perusing the shelves. While he did this he spoke, "Every Olivander wand is unique. They have two main components the magical core, which focuses the magic of the individual and the wood that makes up the wand. Olivander's uses unicorn hairs, phoenix feathers, and dragon heartstrings. As every magical being and every individual tree is completely individual so is the wand. You will never get as good results with a wand which chose another wizard." Mr. Olivander emerged from the back room and handed Harry a wand, "Beachwood and dragon heartstring. Give it a wave." Harry felt quite foolish as he did what Mr. Olivander instructed. Just as he had done as told he felt the wand snatched out of his hand almost instantly.

Mr. Olivander handed him another, "Oak and unicorn hair, Try." Harry did and yet again nothing happened.

"Mahogany and phoenix feather." Nothing again.

"Apple and dragon heartstring." No response.

It continued on like this for quite some time Mr. Olivander would hand him a wand, Harry would barely move it and Mr. Olivander would snatch it back. The thing that seemed odd to Harry was that Mr. Olivander seemed to get happier the longer it went on. Harry had tried over one hundred wands and was feeling quite discouraged. This must have shown on his face as Mr. Olivander said, "Not to worry Mr. Potter, the wand chooses the wizard after all and you will be life long partners no need to rush perfection," he said this right before handing Harry another wand. "Holly and phoenix feather." Harry took the wand and felt amazing warmth in his fingers accompanied by a feeling of untapped power through his whole body. The only way Harry felt he could describe the power he felt was that it was like the force that keeps two magnets of the same pole apart. It was simply amazing. He waved the wand and a mixture of gold and silver sparks came out of the tip. Mr. Olivander yelled "Bravo!" and looked quite impressed while Snape clapped his hands absently. After Mr. Olivander finished cheering he started muttering to himself. Harry only caught a bit of it "How very curious…" when Mr. Olivander walked near him to take the wand for pricing.

Harry couldn't help himself, "Excuse me sir, but what's curious?"

Mr. Olivander suddenly became quite serious and gave Harry a hard stare. "I can remember every single wand I have ever sold and it is curious that the phoenix whose tail gave the feather in your wand gave another feather. It just so happens that that feather is in the wand that gave you your scar."

Harry's face paled and Snape's eyes were wide as saucers. Mr. Olivander smiled and said, "The wand chooses the wizard Mr. Potter it is no coincidence you were given this wand. I think we can expect great things of you."

When the left the wand shop the air between Harry and Snape was quite tense though Harry wasn't quite sure why. He looked at his list and a question fell out of his mouth before he had a chance to stop it. "Sir you said you teach potions correct?" Snape nodded and then Harry continued, "What difference does the material of the cauldron make?"

Snape's reply was in a slightly condescending tone that one often hears when asking a basic question of someone who has mastered the subject. "Well more porous materials such as iron will absorb some of the essence of the previous potions ingredients. While it is more resilient to potions that would otherwise melt the bottom right out of the cauldron you can only use it ever for one particular potion before you need to clean it with very strong cleaning charms and even then you must be careful. More precious materials such as gold while easier to clean and less likely to absorb previous potions melt at a much lower point and can only be used for potions made at lower temperatures." Harry nodded it made perfect sense especially the bit about the iron. One time Harry had cleaned a skillet improperly and breakfast was ruined, as it tasted of soap, he got a week in the cupboard for that mistake. When they reached the apothecary Snape agreed to help him pick out potion ingredients.

As they walked out Harry laid eyes upon the biggest man Harry had ever seen and he was walking toward them. He smiled a smile proportionate to his massive body that reached far into his eyes. "Professor!" he called, "an Harry too! I had hoped to run into you today."

Snape nodded, "Nice to see you too Hagrid."

Hagrid smiled and looked at Harry. "I woulda picked ya up m'self but I had other important Hogwarts business to attend to today." He patted his breast pocket dutifully and Snape rolled his eyes. Harry smiled he enjoyed this giant man's easygoing personality. "An before I forget a happy birthday to ya." Harry turned slightly red and said a quiet thank you. As he said this Hagrid was rummaging through his jacket and pulled out a box that he handed to Harry. Harry opened it as Hagrid said, "Baked it m'self hope you like it." It was a birthday cake.

Harry felt a lump in his thought, "Hagrid thank you, you shouldn't have." It was Harry's first ever birthday cake and he had got it from someone he had never even met.

"Nonsense," replied Hagrid, "and if you have time we should go and buy you a birthday present." Harry began to protest at this saying Hagrid couldn't that he didn't have to. Hagrid simply waved it off as nothing. "It's the least I could do for ya, especially after not picking you up like I had hoped to. Perhaps Professer Snape here could help us choose."

"An owl perhaps," Snape said lazily as if he were trying to appear aloof, " I am sure he doesn't already have one and he will need one to write to all his adoring fans." At those words all the people who had grouped around them when they realized that the Harry Hagrid was talking to was THE Harry Potter suddenly scattered and began to turn away hastily.

"A wonderful idea Professor." With that they headed to Eeylop's Owl Emporium where they went to buy Harry an owl. There was a bit of a hold up as there were two owls that caught Harry's attention a beautiful snowy white female and a male as dark as the night. They both seemed to favor Harry equally so he left it up to Hagrid and Snape to choose. Hagrid came out a few minutes later holding the snowy white owl in a cage and a slightly sulky looking Snape trailing behind. He had apparently been routing for the black owl. Harry was continually saying thank you and Hagrid continued to wave it off looking slightly embarrassed by all of Harry's gratitude. The walked back toward the arch and when they reached it Hagrid said his goodbyes, "Allrigh' then Harry I'll be seein ya when you get to Hogwarts." With that he nodded to Snape, waved to Harry and walked off.

Snape Apparated them to the end of Privet Drive and handed Harry a small envelope. "This has your train ticket to get to Hogwarts. If there is any reason you can not make it to the train station on time send your owl to the school and we will work the matter out."

Harry nodded and said, "If worse comes to worse I will call a taxi. I am pretty sure I have enough for a ride to…" He opened the envelope and looked at the station name, " Kings Cross Station." Snape nodded and Apparated away leaving Harry at the end of the street with quite an unusual assortment of things. So Harry knowing how his Aunt would shriek if anyone saw him hurried back to number four.


	4. Chapter 4

When Harry arrived at number four his aunt reacted quite the way he expected. She shrieked at him to get inside so the neighbors wouldn't see his freakishness. His Uncle glared at him and then unceremoniously threw both Harry and his things up the stairs into Dudley's second bedroom that was now Harry's. At first Dudley didn't believe Harry could actually do magic. All Dudley knew was that Harry had gone off with some nutter who claimed to teach at a magical school. However when he began to taunt Harry about it and his parents did not back him up at all he realized and quickly shrunk away eyes wide.

Harry spent most of his time reading _Once a Muggle, Now a Wizard_ and learning about the wizarding world. He was saddened slightly to learn that he couldn't use magic on or around muggles, he had been hoping to curse Dudley, but other than that was amazed. He always had his wand on or around his person especially when he went into the living room. Apparently when his mum had been in school they didn't restrict practicing your magic at home just so long as you didn't use it on your muggle relatives. He got this tidbit of information when he heard his aunt start ranting about his mother's freakishness and "turning teacups into rats!" whenever she got home for the holidays. He skimmed over all his schoolbooks and read the first chapter of each but he was continually going back to the Kiddin book. Each word just seemed to speak to him it was amazing. When he was looking through his history book he came across the name Hedwig and when he suggested it to his owl she hooted as if in approval so that is what he named her.

It was two weeks till the end of August and Harry figured he would need to ask his uncle for a ride now or else figure out another way to get to the train station. He walked into the front room where Dudley and his uncle were watching T.V. He coughed to make his presence known and his uncle grunted in response. "Uncle Vernon, I was wondering if you could give me a ride to Kings Cross station on September 1st. I need to take a train to get to school."

Vernon grunted, "Fine, we need to go to London sometime soon anyway. Dudley broke his Smelting stick so we need to buy a new one." Harry nodded and turned to go back upstairs when Vernon continued, "Seems a bit odd to me to have your sort take a train."Harry didn't quite know how to respond to this and simply showed his uncle his ticket. His uncle simply smiled and said, "Oh yes we will take you no problem." Harry found this comment slightly worrying and when he saw his ticket he knew why there was probably not a platform 9 ¾ from the muggle perspective but he would figure it out when he got there.

On the day of September 1st Harry dressed quickly, made sure he had all of his things in his trunk. He wore his muggle cloths not wanting to attract attention by looking odd at the train station. He made sure he had a bit of muggle money and a bid of wizard gold in his pocket. He even made breakfast quickly for everyone in the house, though they nearly refused it because they were sure he used his freakiness to make it look so good. They didn't refuse though because of how great it looked.

Harry hurried into the car and they drove to London. The drive was awkward and slow but Harry didn't much care as he was going to be gone to school away from his family. When they arrived at the station Uncle Vernon hurriedly put all of Harry's things onto a trolley and sped off leaving Harry in a cloud of exhaust.

Harry watched them speed off knowing they believed that they had left him abandoned at a train station. Harry simply smiled and pushed his trolley into the station. He looked up at the clock it read 10:30 so he realized he had some time. He walked around a bit looking for anyone who was around school age with odd items such as… An owl, he had spotted a group of three very blond individuals the youngest of which was pushing a trolley and had an owl. He walked over closer and heard them talking, "…filled with disgusting muggles as always. Oh Lucius I think one of them touched me, we must find a better way to get onto the platform."

When they stopped walking Harry approached them at first they looked disgusted that he was there but when he started talking the look lessened slightly, "Excuse me but I was wondering if you knew how to get onto the platform. It is obviously hidden somehow but I wasn't quite sure no one told me."

The tall man who the woman had called Lucius spoke, "You walk through the barrier, mudblood." He looked as if he had seen something disgusting on his shoe.

Harry recognized this word from the book he had been reading almost religiously as a terrible insult but continued politely, "Thank you, but I am not muggleborn both of my parents were our sort." With that he walked through the barrier onto the platform. Harry's irritation at being insulted in such a way by Lucius dissolved the second he saw the platform. It was bustling with students and parents. Harry quickly got onto the train and went strait to the back hoping to find the last compartment empty, which he did. As he was trying to put his trunk in the rack a second pair of hands started helping him. When he looked over he saw it was the boy whose father insulted him. The boy started talking, "My name is Malfoy, Draco Malfoy I was sent by my parents to apologize for misinterpreting your parentage. Why aren't your parents here with you?"

Harry held in a scowl, he didn't much care for this boy but he had just apologized and helped him even though his voice was very condescending and reminded him very much of Dudley. "They're dead."

"Oh sorry." He was quite obviously not sorry. "Well I need to go tell my parents that I have apologized." He left without waiting for a response. _Well _thought Harry _that was slightly odd._ Harry wasn't quite sure how he felt about this Draco Malfoy just yet. Harry waited to see what he did first. However Harry knew that if Draco tried to turn him into one of his little puppets the way Dudley did with his friends then Draco would have himself an enemy whether he knew it or not.

After Harry had settled down into his seat and was looking out the window, wishing he had bought some food at the station before he got onto the platform, Draco Malfoy made a reappearance. This time he was flanked by two near identical looking boys who were quite broad in appearance. He made a brief introduction, "This is Crabbe and this is Goyle." Harry was most definitely reminded of Dudley, "I was wondering what is your surname anyway you said your parents were our sort but I don't recognize you."

Harry smiled and said, "My name is Harry Potter."

There was a deafening silence in the room for a few seconds. Until Malfoy broke it by saying, "Prove it." Harry simply lifted up his bangs. Crabbe and Goyle's jaws dropped and Malfoy smirked. He held out his hand saying, "Nice to meet you Potter." Harry looked at it for a second he remembered quite clearly not having any friends before simply because Dudley wouldn't allow it. Harry shook his hand with the thought of, this doesn't make us friends it makes us associates. Malfoy nodded and walked off.

A few minutes later a fairly tall girl with sandy blond hair and olive green eyes walked in. She had thin wire glasses. Her hair was in a messy bun with tendrils that fell out and seemed to perfectly frame her face. She nodded to Harry and asked, "Mind if I sit in here too?" Harry nodded his head to say yes. "Thanks my name is Sally-Anne Perks, call me Sally."

Harry nodded, "I am Harry Potter nice to meet you."

She looked slightly pleased with her choice of seats but Harry didn't notice. "The Harry potter?" Harry nodded. "Well let me say welcome back and it's very nice to be meeting you."

Harry agreed and asked, "So are you a first year too or…?"

She smiled, "Yup and I can't wait to get to Hogwarts mum says its beautiful." With that they began to talk animatedly of what they expected the school to be like.

They were discussing classes, "…I heard that History of Magic is taught by a ghost." "Really? Weird!" When the food trolley came by. Sally jumped up and ran over to the trolley buying lots of Cauldron Cakes and Chocolate Frogs. Harry had never heard of any of the candies that were for sell but that didn't curb his enthusiasm. He bought a bit of everything and a bit more of the things that had familiar such as, Chocolate Frogs (if it has chocolate it has to be good) and Pumpkin Pasties (Pasties are good and so is Pumpkin Pie).

Harry was delighted to find that the Chocolate Frogs tasted nothing like frog and everything like chocolate and even had a nifty card for collecting. He knew from his books that wizard pictures moved but it was still a shock to see the pictures of famous wizards waving at him. Soon Harry was having more fun than he could remember having in a very long time. Harry had shown Sally his new Morgana card and she had countered with a smile wide on her face, "Yeah well I have Circe and Circe could sooooo completely and totally beat Morgana."

It took Harry a few moments to realize what Sally was talking about but then smiled searched through his cards and held up Merlin. "Pshaw with Merlin and Morgana how could I loose?" They continued on like this for a very long time laughing and smiling.

Authors Note: This is the full version of this chapter and I feel some thanks need to be made. Thanks to all my reviewers simply for reviewing I honestly was in shock to get so many in such a short time. The second is my thanks for having the fact that this chapter was cut off brought to my attention. I really wasn't sure at first if I planned to continue this story at all, but now I am sure that I will.


	5. Chapter 5

Well I guess I should probably put a disclaimer in here at some point and now is as good a time as any, anything you recognise dosent belong to me that includes but is not limited to Hogwarts, Harry, Ron and even Sally-Anne Perks check your HPSS/HPPS book she is in there

Harry and Sally were still trying to best each other in a who would beat whom fight of the Chocolate Frog sort. It was even more amusing because the cards themselves were getting involved, making faces and rude gestures at the card they were being set to face. They were in the midst of choosing their next cards when the compartment door slid open. A nervous looking boy and a bushy haired girl were standing on the other side. She looked like she was about to speak but then got a confused look on her face and asked, "What are you doing?"

Harry and Sally didn't look at each other because they could barely contain their giggles and knew that if they looked at each other they would bust up laughing again, "Were playing with Chocolate Frog cards what does it look like were doing?" Sally barely managed to get out.

"Yeah," continued Harry, "Who do you think would win Merlin or Medusa?" He asked this while showing that he was holding the Merlin card.

The bushy haired girl looked taken aback that he had asked her, or maybe it was the fact that the Medusa and Merlin cards were both making puppy dog faces at her as if to say 'Choose Me! Choose Me!' After she got over the shock she seemed thoughtful for a moment and then proclaimed, "While Merlin is an exceptional wizard he would stand no chance against Medusa's petrifaction talent, Medusa wins." At this Sally jumped up exclaimed YES! and did a little dance. Everyone stared at her for a few seconds. Then the bushy haired girl seemed to remember why she had opened the door in the first place. The bushy haired girl inquired. "Have any of you seen a toad? Neville here seems to have lost his." They responded that they hadn't and she left. The second the door slid closed they both looked at each other and busted up laughing.

For a long while after that they continued to chat about nothing, eat sweets, and have their cards make faces at each other. Then for a second time the compartment door slid open, this time a familiar looking red headed boy was behind the door. He looked slightly nervous and was silent for a few moments but the curious looks of Harry and Sally caused him to speak. "M-my brothers told me that Harry Potter was supposed to be in this compartment, I figured I would check even though it was probably a prank."

Harry was just about to say that he was in fact Harry Potter when he suddenly recognized the boy, "I REMEMBER YOU! You were with that big family in Madam Malkin's when I was getting my robes."

The boy looked startled for a moment and said, "Yeah my names Ron, sorry for bugging you I should have known my brothers were pranking me." He turned to leave

"No they weren't pranking you I really am Harry Potter." Ron's eyes widened at that but he continued out of the compartment.

Sally stood up after Ron had walked out, "He was wearing his robes, we should probably get ours on too." She turned to leave, "You get yours on first and then I will come in and put mine on, okay." When she had walked out and closed the door behind her Harry began to change. While he changed he snorted slightly at the thought that had someone told him a year ago that he would be getting on a train to a magical school and have enough money in a trust account to buy the Dursley's home for the sheer fun of destroying it and still have money to burn he would have said they needed to be committed. Now though, now he couldn't imagine anything better now he knew he had someplace to go and that he wasn't a good for nothing freak and that was wonderful.

Harry walked out and let Sally in to change. He looked at his reflection on the shaded window of the compartment door. He looked at the Hogwarts crest on his outer robe wondering what house he would be put in. Harry remembered Snape's explanation of the houses and had thought about it many times but he still didn't think he fit into any of them. He liked to think things through before he did them at least a little but rarely did because he either didn't have time or knew that any plan he could think of would fall through. He was slightly reckless as was shown by his following Snape without knowing anything about him. That made him seem Gryffindor but at the same time he didn't think that was his match. He knew when to simply sit back and watch things happening because if you saw other people's habits it was easy enough to avoid them. That made him think he was slightly Slytheryn but at the same time that felt wrong because he didn't set the wheels in motion he simply observed them.

Harry barely had time to finish this thought when the door slid open showing Sally wearing a matching set of robes allowing him in as she had just finished dressing. Harry smiled at her and walked in sitting next to the window. It was clear they were both nervous, in a good way, about being so close to finally being at Hogwarts. She sat down across from Harry and they both contemplated their future for the rest of the trip.

Author's note: My updating will more than likely be sporadic at best, I wrote the majority of this while I was grounded and didn't have acess to the internet and fanfiction. I will try to update every two weeks and will hope for more but I can't promise that. Oh and I am looking for a beta reader so if you are interested contact me


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer, If you see anything you recognise its not mine thats all there is to it.

Oh and I apologise for the wait, I only write well when I am bored and these past few weeks ahve been overloaded with stuff, either from old friends or school work but the school year is allmost done so I will have nothing to distract me from writing

Harry was broken from his revere by a voice echoing throughout the train: "We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes' time. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to the school separately." He looked over at Sally who seemed as shocked by the sudden voice as he did and started chuckling at the look on her face. As if a weight had suddenly been taken out of the room all the nervous tension about the upcoming sorting dissipated, and all they could do was laugh. So they did.

After the laughter stopped Sally wiped a tear from her eye while Harry was doubled over attempting to catch his breath. There faces were both extremely red. Sally stood up and with an overly arrogant air threw her nose into the air stating with far to much dignity that, " She was a Hogwarts student now and could not possibly be caught participating in such foolish behavior." This of course led to more giggling but it was no where near as overpowering as the previous set of laughter had been and in its wake left a comfortable sort of silence. As they felt the train begin to slow Sally and Harry picked up the candies, wrappers, and cards shoving them into their pockets. They opened the door of their compartment and with a determined air moved into the crowd amassing in the corridor, staying very close to each other of course.

When the train finally came to a complete stop they slowly made their way off the train and into the station. Right when it dawned upon Harry that He didn't know which way to go he head a tremendous voice calling out above the roar of the crowd, "First Years! Over here!" This, Harry thought, was quite convenient timing as he really did not believe that Sally would have let that go during the entire time he would ever know her. Even though Harry had only met him once there was no mistaking that voice or the body it belonged to, it was Hagrid. In a moment of rashness Harry grabbed Sally's arm and pulled her hastily over to Hagrid.

At first Hagrid didn't notice Harry. This is understandable however due to Hagrid's huge size and Harry's size which was small even for boys of his own age. So Harry yelled, "Hey Hagrid, nice to see you!"

This immediately got Hagrid's attention and soon he was giving Harry one of his huge smiles and greeted him warmly. As there was still work to do, and as he didn't want to show any favoritism toward Harry (Snape had, at Hagrid's request, related everything he had gathered about Harry from their short encounter and it was fairly obvious to all involved that Harry was not an attention seeker and wouldn't expect or appreciate any special treatment) Hagrid left the greetings at that and went back to beckoning the remaining first years. As soon as Hagrid noticed that no more students were gathering around he asked, "You all here then?" When he received no response he took that as conformation. "Good, come on then." With that he began walking down a path calling out "Follow me!" There were a few rocks and roots that caught and tripped everyone at least once on the narrow path that they walked down. Even in the darkness, with the air starting to grow cold as summer receded and autumn came to take its place, Harry felt unbelievable excitement and it was obvious that every other student felt the same. After a bit more walking, and stumbling, Hagrid called out, "You'll be getting your first look at Hogwarts in a minute," and as they walked around a bend in the path there was a collective gasp and an almost reflexive "Ooohhhh!" It really was that beautiful. The metaphor Harry didn't realize he had been forming in his head, the way he would always remember this walk, just clicked into place. It was like being in a story walking from one world unknowingly into another. With this collective gasp, not a single student realized, almost unfortunately, that their lives had just changed forever. The rest of the trek down the path, quite a few more students tripped but there was much less grumbling about it, there was hardly any conversation at all. Every eye was transfixed staring at their new home. Then just as suddenly as they had become silent the party stopped moving. They had arrived at the shore of a giant lake a small fleet of boats connected to a dock. Hagrid got into a boat of his own and announced, "No more than four to a boat." With that everyone scrambled, eager to get that much closer to their new home. Harry and Sally of course got into a boat together along with a pale faced, slightly hunched over boy who introduced himself as Morag. He had deep green eyes that were slightly buggy, giving him the impression that no matter what you did he would always be staring at you.

They slowly moved forward, the light of the many lamps attached to the front of the boats reflecting on the inky surface of the lake. They headed toward a wall of ivy, Hagrid shouting, "HEADS DOWN!" at just the right moment to keep from getting a face full of ivy. They were in a very long tunnel and at this point Harry realized there was something bothering him. He couldn't put a finger on it so he chalked it up to being nervous about what house he would be put in and set it aside. No point in worrying about something when he wasn't even sure what house he wanted to be put in, much less what ones he wouldn't want to be put in. Harry looked around inspecting the tunnel, it seemed that they were under the castle itself. Soon they landed at what seemed to be an underground harbor with a pebbly beach. They slowly got out of their boats onto the beach. Looking around nervously, they spotted a set of steps that led to a huge door: the door into the castle. During their inspections Hagrid was making an inspection of his own. He was looking in each of the boats making sure no student forgot anything, as students are prone to do. This is quite a good thing because soon as all the students had seen the doors he found something and yelled out, "Hey is this your toad?" The boy who had been with Hermoine Yelled out "Trevor!" in delight and grasped his toad with love.

This was however only a short break from the tension that built right back up as Hagrid climbed the steps and knocked three times upon the great door.


	7. Chapter 7

Firstly I would like to offer an apology and an explanation to everyone who has read my story, and dutifully reviewed or added me to their watch list. I don't like to force ideas and for a short while I was not sure where I would be going with this story so I put it off and well before you knew it I had all but forgotten about my story. A lot has changed since I started writing I have moved six times, graduated high school, started college, and even got married. I don't have anymore time than I did before but I can fit in time to write, the idea for this story never left me and this morning it exploded out of my head. I apologize for any inaccuracies as I don't currently have my books with me for refrence but hey its AU so never mind ^_^ Now on to the part you all want to read, the story!

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Chapter Seven

The door swung open into a huge room, with its high ceiling and how large the room itself was the Dursley's house could fit inside easily with room to spare. Harry turned to Sally and Morag who had walked in behind him. Sally looked at him with nervous excitement, Morag just sort of _looked_ at Harry but he was nervous all the same. The air hummed with subdued whispered chatter, until suddenly it just stopped. Harry turned around and his eyes widened with shock. Ghosts, reading about them was one thing but actually seeing them was quite another. They were debating about _something_ Harry wasn't quite sure what as he could only hear snippets of the words they were saying. All at once the ghosts appeared to notice the fact that there were in fact students in the room.

The largest, and seemingly happiest spoke up when all the rest went quiet, "Oh you must be the new first years?" Everyone nodded silently. "Oh good very good indeed, I am the Friar I do hope you get sorted into my house we will have lots of fun!" With that they continued their talk and floated out of the room.

Harry was just about to turn back to Sally and Morag when a door opened. An older lady with gray hair pulled back into a bun walked in. She was tall and imposing, seeming even more tall by the height of her hat. Her mouth was pressed down into a line as she looked over the new students the corners bent up just a tad as if she was having a very hard time not smiling as she looked at them. "I am Deputy Headmistress Minerva McGonagall. In a few minutes you will be sorted into your houses. You house will be your family during your years at Hogwarts. Each and every house has produced wizards and witches who were a credit to _and _ones who aren't. I hope deeply that none of you are in the second group. Now follow me"

The group of first years fell into a line and walked into the Great Hall. If Harry had been awed by the comparatively small room they just left he was floored by this new room. His eyes widened as they traveled up to the ceiling. It was beautiful. Harry had lived in the Suburbs his whole life and even then he was rarely outside after dark. Even though it was through an enchanted ceiling he had never seen stars quite so bright and clear. He was entranced. He could have looked at it forever except- he had just received a swift kick to the leg. He turned around. "What was that for Sally?" he whispered.

"Its about to be my turn I don't want you to miss it stupid." Sally was glaring at him and he had missed most of the sorting. He turned to silently watch two twin girls get sorted into Gryffindor. When McGonagall called out Sally's name she walked up nervously, trying hard to hide it but making it all too apparent that she was scared. It seemed like an eternity that she sat on the stool but in all reality it was only a few seconds before the hat sorted her into Slytherin. Harry watched as she removed the hat from her head and she walked over to a long table on the far left of the hall. She sat next to Morag who apparently had been sorted while he was lost in his own thoughts.

Professor McGonagall called out "Potter, Harry," and the whole school went quiet for a second then erupted with whispers. Harry stepped forward and began to walk to the stool in the front. When he finally got to the stool, it had seemed like it took forever, the Professor looked at him kindly and placed the hat on his head.

The hat was obviously made for someone much larger than he was, the brim fell over his eyes. It seemed funny to him really the second he couldn't see anyone the hall seemed to become silent as well. "Oh yes, indeed they do seem to go quiet when a person is being sorted don't they?" a voice sounded inside his head. _What was that?_ "Why it was me of course, how else should I decide where to put you?" _Your looking through my mind? _"Yes, yes. Oh look at this very brave. Gryffindor would suit you well." _Gryffindor?_ "No maybe not. Slytherin perhaps? You are very ambitious. No no the bravery far outweighs that..." Hearing the hat talk about Gryffindor he thought back to Professor Snape's speech about the houses. He hated rushing into things if he didn't have to it was always better to have a plan, or to avoid trouble all together. "Oh really well then I know just where to put you."

The hat yelled out loud enough for everyone to hear "SLYTHERYN!" at first the hall was silent and when McGonagall removed the hat she looked at him quite strangely but then all of a sudden Slytherin table erupted in cheers. Harry quickly walked over to the table that would now be his home and sat next to Sally.

"Hey Harry I had hoped you would be in the same house as me, now we wont have to worry about making time to see each other." Sally said brightly. Morag just looked at him and nodded. Malfoy tried to talk to him he started going on about congratulations and welcome to the best house but he was distracted. Up at the head table Snape was looking at him strangely and so was the man in the center of the table. He recognized him after a second as being Professor Dumbledore. Sally had used him once in their card duel, how was he supposed to know that she had a Dumbledore card right when he used Grindelwald. Dumbledore was looking at him as if he was the last piece left in the puzzle but for some reason wouldn't fit in the last spot.

"Potter have you been listening to a word I have been saying?" Malfoy said loud enough to break him from his thoughts.

"Sorry, I was just trying to figure out why he is looking at me so weird." Harry said motioning to the Headmaster.

"Oh that old coot, don't pay any attention to him. He is prejudiced against Slytherins. He probably is shocked that the 'Boy-Who-Lived'got sorted into mean old Slytherin. I wont be surprised if it makes front page of the prophet," Malfoy sneered.

Harry was thinking this over when the headmaster stood up. The hall went silent as the headmaster began his speech. He cleared his throat and gave his gibberish speech. When the professor sat back down the table on the opposite side of the hall cheered and clapped louder than the rest of the tables. One of the older Slytherins muttered under his breath, "Stupid Gryffindors," the rest of his table muttered their agreement. Harry could see why Snape had described the Gryffindors as dunderheads. They seemed rather ridiculous. Harry noticed that sometime in his musings the food had appeared. "I have got to stop doing that..." he muttered under his breath while serving himself some of the chicken.

"Doing what Harry?" Sally asked while scooping herself some potatoes.

"I keep getting lost in my thoughts especially when things happen; the sorting the food appearance, things like that." Harry said while buttering a roll.

Sally shrugged and said, "Yeah you probably should stop that, I could see that getting annoying and well think of all the things your missing." Malfoy and another first year who introduced herself as Daphne Greengrass nodded in agreement.

The first years ate in silence chattering every now and then making introductions but mostly observing each other when a ghost floated over to where they were sitting. "Hello children I am the Bloody Baron," the ghost began, "I am your house ghost, over the course of the next seven years you will likely come into a few instances where you need to contact Professor Snape the head of our house after curfew. That is when you will contact me. I will then either summon the professor or escort you to his office myself depending on where he is at the time. I will not however help you with the castle poltergeist Peeves. There are a few ways to keep him from bothering you but as Slytherins you should easily manage to figure out at least one of them." With that he floated to the other end of the table.

Harry's eyes widened as he noticed the trays refilling themselves. The Dursley's hadn't exactly starved him, at least he didn't feel he was starved, but he got served last and he only got what his aunt put on his plate; she always made sure there was enough left for 'her boys' to have seconds. After a second he took a scoop of stroganoff. He ate it slowly considering his new lot in life. He knew from the reading he had been doing that everyone considered him a hero and quite a few people wanted nothing more than to spoil the living hell out of him. His aunt and her friends got together each week to watch some ridiculous show and write letters to their favorite cast members. Sometimes they would even send in trinkets or gifts of baked goods. Muggles and wizards couldn't be that different, people are people after all.

"Oh look dessert is here!" the another first year by the name of Blaze shouted, his pale cheeks flushed red when he realized everyone at the table was staring at him. "I really enjoy sweets and mum only makes dessert when we have people for dinner," he explained hastily.

After everyone had eaten their fill of the delicious sweets and the chatter was at a loud rumble the headmaster stood once again. "Now that everyone has eaten I have a few announcements to make. As always the forbidden forest is as the name implies forbidden, no magic is to be used in the corridors, a list of all items banned from the school is available outside of Mr. Filch's office, and most importantly to all of those wishing to avoid a horrifyingly painful death the third floor corridor is forbidden." Dumbledore smiled at them all and continued, "Now the prefects will escort you all to our common rooms."

Two older students walked toward the first years and called out, "First through fourth years over here!" When everyone had gathered around they introduced themselves, "We are the fifth year prefects, if you have an issue that requires the intervention of a prefect come to one of us first." The tall lanky guy with dirty blond hair stepped forward, " I am Tiberius Bagnold." A shorter girl with black hair and bright emerald green eyes stepped forward, " I am Cytherea Alderton, we will both place our schedules on the bulletin board now come on, and remember the way we wont show you again." With that they walked out of the Great Hall.

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Okay so that was the latest chapter, sorry again for how long it took me to update but I wont do that again. I am using this fan fiction as a way to improve me creative writing so I would love to read any reviews you feel to leave and constructive criticism is always welcome.


	8. Chapter 8

Thanks for all the reviews, and no Cytherea is not related to Harry I was actually basing her looks off of Sara Crewe from _A little Princess _which is one of my favorite childrens novels of all time. I changed her looks a bit of course but her appearance was little Sara jumping rope in my brain.

Standard disclaimer if you recognize it its not mine appearances and personalities of some cannon character shells are mine but for the most part I am just unraveling the pre-existing fabric of plot and sticking in my own threads

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Chapter 8

Harry tried to remember the way though the winding passages but after a short while decided it was impossible. He would have to just suck it up, get up early and figure his way around from there. After the ridiculously long walk taking enough turns at paintings and sculptures to make him wonder which way was up they reached a blank space of wall.

"Now listen up firsties," Cytherea snapped clearly not excited to have to be in the cool hall instead of in her bed. "This is the entrance to our common room. In order to gain entrance you need to tap this brick here," Tiberius poked the brick with his finger, "and say the password , which happens to bezoar. Now make sure there isn't anyone around to hear it. If in doubt whisper it."

With that Tiberius poked the brick and whispered the password and the bricks faded away to a circular opening. When Harry walked into the common room he couldn't help but gasp and look about. There were small circles of plush black leather armchairs and work tables with practical wooden chairs. The room gave off an air of practical comfort. He was going to look closer but noticed that everyone was gathering around Professor Snape.

Snape looked at the fifth year prefects and asked, "Is this everyone then?" Cytherea and Tiberius both nodded once, "Very good. Now welcome and welcome back. As you all know this is Slytherin house. I am Professor Snape your head of house. I am responsible for guiding you through the next seven years of your education to make capable wizards of you all. Now my office is down the hall, if you wish to see me during my office hours which are posted on the board simply talk to the man in the painting of the snake and he will either allow you in or make an appointment with you. I urge you all to familiarize yourselves with the rules of our school and to make an appointment to speak with me within the next month. I hope you all will learn much this year and that you will be a credit to our noble house. Good night," and with that he walked out of the common room and to his office.

The students all started to mill around after the professor finished his speech and Harry found Sally and Morag sitting in some of the comfier chairs. He walked over and smiled at them tiredly, "I would love to sit up and talk to you guys some more but I am beat I am going to head to bed."

Sally smiled at him, "That's probably a good idea Harry, night Harry night Morag." She stood up and wandered down the hall the rest of the girls seemed to be going down. Morag just stood up and started walking. He seemed to know where he was going so Harry followed him. The walked into a circular room with four poster beds, their trunks and a dresser (each set of trunk, bed and dresser had curtains that could be pulled closed around the whole area in addition to the curtains surrounding the beds Harry figured for people who have issues dressing in front of others) all in a semi circle around the back of the room. A counter and mirror ran along their other half of the room every few feet there was a drawer and on top of the mirror in that spot their names were on a plaque with their names on it. Harry wondered about it for a second before he realized-

"Oh no!" He muttered.

Morag looked at him curiously before quietly asking, "What?"

"I didn't think to pick up an alarm before I came to school now I will never wake up on time."

By this point some of the other boys walked into the room. Blaise walked over to him, "No worries Potter, I've got your back, what time were you looking to wake up?"

Harry muttered , "Half past seven."

Blaise twitched slightly why so early they had out the schedules at breakfast but the older years told me that classes wont start till nine at least."

Harry blushed, "Well I was worried about getting lost, and I wan to set up an appointment with Snape maybe even get in before anyone else."

"Ah alright but seriously you will need to owl order one for yourself asap I don't want to wake at the crack of dawn ever day until you figure out where things are." Blaise muttered while digging out his alarm clock. "There is a spell to wake you up but honestly until I get a few lessons under my belt I really don't want to worry about having mucked it up and waking late."

"Thanks so much, I owe you one." Harry sighed in relief.

"Yup ya do, ill keep it in mind." Blaise smiled, his mum would be so proud he was getting on the Boy-Who-Lived's good side, helping him and earning favors.

Harry smiled and walked over to his chest of drawers. It had three levels with six drawers. It came up to his waist and he figured the top would be good for putting his glasses and things he kept in his pockets each day on top of while he slept. He opened the first of his drawers to find a piece of parchment explaining their use.

_Tricky Talls All Use Storage_

_This multi-use storage container can be used in three modes_

_Drawer mode is the default setting _

_To get to Shelf setting take the drawer pulls and slide them over to the side of the container_

_To go to Cabinet mode which comes with a hanging rod requires use of two drawers on a row, all you need to do is twist the handles perpendicular to the floor and push them towards the center. _

_You can only use each row for one setting at a time so choose wisely!_

Harry made the bottom drawers into shelves for his books. He took the sleeve off of the Kiddin book and placed it on the shelf with the rest of the books. He didn't want the others to realize how sheltered he was from the realities of magic growing up. He kept the middle level as drawers to put in his under clothes, the things he would wear on weekends and his hats in. He turned the top drawer into a cabinet and hung his robes there. He had suspected but was still surprised when it easily allowed for him to hang his long robes in the short cabinet. When he put the clothes on the provided hanger the clothes and hanger shrunk down to fit in the cabinet.

When he was unpacking he looked at what he had and was embarrassingly thankful that the Dursleys had bought him his own socks and boxers. Instead of insisting that he use Duddly's old ones. He decided that he would order some decent clothes when he put in his order for his new alarm.

With that thought he drifted off to sleep.

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Its not a long chapter but I figured that I owe you guys a chapter every time I get to a good point to stop. What do you guys think so far? Should I set a new book for each year Harry goes through or have the whole seven years in one fic? Either way I will have to change the rating because the later chapters will get pretty dark. I am not a Dumbledore fan just to warn you all. I have a few things in mind that I REALLY can't wait to get to but they aren't things that would come to the mind of an eleven year old, even a Slytherin eleven year old. As always read and review ^_^


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